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Source Code, Hex Editing, & File Hacking Explained
by Raul “Datajack” Rodriguez

Most programs (especially games) are made up of a series of files. One of them is the main EXE and the rest are data files that the EXE file opens and gets information from to carry out its instructions. These data files can have information like weapon load outs for specific planes, graphic images, tables and charts that determine how the flight model or aircraft and ground unit AI’s behave.

Going through and trying to decipher these files (which would look like a string of garbage if you opened them in a program like Word for example) is a very time consuming task. It boils down to changing values in these files to other values and then running the game and studying any behavior changes. Both hex editing and file hacking are trial and error processes that in the end are limiting in their final results.

Falcon4_108i2.exe using the Axe hex editor.

With the source code however, hex editing is eliminated, since you can make changes to the program using the well-known language of C and then just compile and create a new executable file. File hacking is made much easier, since now you can go into the source code and see the structure of the file. No more guessing.

A simple glance at the source code will tell you exactly what each byte in the data files represents. It becomes a trivial matter to then change the data and therefore change the behavior of the program.

So what is source code? Source code is power. Anyone with a good understanding of C is only limited by his skill and imagination. Note that not just anyone who knows C will be able to do anything useful with the code. Games are complex programs. Flight Sims are the most complex games to write.

The AI and flight model code uses advanced math and physics calculations. A good understanding of the DirectX library is also needed. Regardless, there are hosts of people out there right now who have the code and know exactly what do to with it. The fact that even looking at this code is a crime won’t stop them from modifying the code. There are countries outside the U.S. that are not bound by US Copyright law or even the Universal Copyright treaties such as the Paris version of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Expect to see lots of new EXEs popping up at an Internet server near you.

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